Cooking state and finishing indicator of instant foods

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a cooking state and completion indicator of instant foods such as instant noodles, which indicates a cooking state of the instant foods to allow consumers to easily identify the cooking state quickly, thereby allowing the consumers to ingest the cooked instant foods and to approximate a cooking completion time of the instant foods to prevent the consumers from wasting time while waiting for the instant foods to be cooked. The cooking state and completion indicator is characterized in that pattern layers with various heights are installed in a cover ( 20 ) of a disposable vessel for containing the instant foods, a temperature-sensitive material is packed in the pattern layers and a message member ( 40 ) is positioned under the pattern layers. When the cover of the disposable vessel is closed after hot water is placed into the disposable vessel, the pattern layers become transparent in such as way that a pattern layer with a lowest height becomes firstly transpartent and a pattern layer with a highest height becomes transparent last of all, thereby letters or drawings marked on the message member positioned under the pattern layers are gradually revealed through the transparent pattern layers to allow the consumers to easily confirm the cooking state of the instant foods. When the letters or drawings on the message member ( 40 ) are completely revealed because the pattern layers become completely transparent, a cooking of the instant food is completed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention pertains to a cooking state and completionindicator of instant foods such as instant noodles, which indicates acooking state of the instant foods to allow consumers to easily identifythe cooking state quickly, thereby allowing the consumers to ingest thecooked instant foods and to approximate a cooking completion time of theinstant foods to prevent the consumers from wasting time while waitingfor the instant foods to be cooked. The cooking state and completionindicator of the present invention is characterized in that patternlayers with various heights are installed in a cover of a disposablevessel for containing the instant foods, a temperature-sensitivematerial is packed in the pattern layers, and a message member ispositioned under the pattern layers. When the cover of the disposablevessel is closed after hot water is placed into the disposable vessel,the pattern layers become transparent in such a way that a pattern layerwith a lowest height becomes firstly transparent and a pattern layerwith a highest height becomes transparent last of all, thereby lettersor drawings marked on the message member positioned under the patternlayers are gradually revealed through the transparent pattern layers toallow the consumers to easily confirm the cooking state of the instantfoods. When the letters or drawings on the message member are completelyrevealed because the pattern layers become completely transparent, thecooking of the instant foods is completed.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, instant foods, for example instant noodles popular among manyconsumers such as children and women are contained in a disposablevessel without a separate cooking device. In this regard, a sealingmember such as a polyester film, first melts and then is attached to atop part of a main body of the disposable vessel. In order to cook theinstant foods, the consumers separate a portion of the sealing memberfrom the main body of the disposable vessel, inject hot water into thedisposable vessel containing the instant foods, and wait until theinstant foods cook sufficiently to consume them.

However, the instant foods such as the instant noodles contained in aconventional disposable vessel are disadvantageous in that because theconsumers cannot confirm whether the instant foods are well cooked ornot unless they open a portion of the sealing membrane to check acooking state or ingest the instant foods, the instant foods may beundesirably swollen or gelatinized for a long or short time. In detail,when the instant foods are swollen or gelatinized using hot water for along time, a taste of the instant foods is poor. Furthermore, when thesealing member is removed prior to a set time from the disposablevessel, heat of the hot water quickly dissipates, thus the instant foodsmust be swollen for a prolonged time, or they are insufficiently swollenor gelatinized, thus the taste of the instant foods becomes poor.Accordingly, the instant foods must be swollen or gelatinized for anoptimum time, but it is difficult to appropriately swell or gelatinizethe instant foods through a predetermined method because of variousfactors, such as temperature changes of water.

Efforts have been made to avoid the above disadvantages. For example,reference may be made to the utility model which has been made by theapplicant of the present invention, Korean Utility Model Laid-OpenPublication No. 2002-27638, which discloses a cover applied to adisposable vessel for containing instant foods. At this time, ashortening oil as a temperature-sensitive material is put on the coverand the shortening oil on the cover is coated with a transparentmaterial. When heat emitted from hot water poured into the instant foodsin the disposable vessel is transferred to the shortening oil, theopaque shortening oil becomes transparent in time. The shortening oil iscompletely transparent after a predetermined time at which the instantfoods are appropriately swollen, thereby consumers easily confirm thecompletion of cooking of the instant foods.

However, the above utility model is disadvantageous in that theconsumers can confirm only the completion of cooking of the instantfoods, but a cooking state of the instant foods is not indicated.Accordingly, how long do the consumers must wait until the instant foodsare sufficiently cooked is unknown.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind theabove problems occurring in the prior art, and an aspect of the presentinvention is to provide a cooking state and completion indicator ofinstant foods, which indicates a cooking state of the instant foods toallow consumers to easily identify the cooking state quickly, therebyallowing the consumers to consume the cooked instant foods and toapproximate a cooking completion time of the instant foods to preventthe consumers from wasting time while waiting for the instant foods tobe cooked.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The above and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a cooking stateand completion indicator of instant foods characterized in that patternlayers with various heights are installed in a cover of a disposablevessel for containing the instant foods, a temperature-sensitivematerial is packed in the pattern layers, and a message member ispositioned under the pattern layers. When the cover of the disposablevessel is closed after hot water is poured into the disposable vessel,the pattern layers become transparent in such a way that a pattern layerwith a lowest height becomes firstly transparent and a pattern layerwith a highest height becomes transparent last of all, thereby lettersor drawings marked on the message member positioned under the patternlayers are gradually revealed through the transparent pattern layers toallow the consumers to easily identify the cooking state of the instantfoods. When the letters or drawings on the message member are completelyrevealed because the pattern layers become completely transparent, theconsumers confirm that a cooking of the instant foods is completed.

Therefore, the present invention is advantageous in that the cookingstate and completion indicator indicates a cooking state of the instantfoods to allow consumers to easily identify the cooking state quickly,thereby allowing the consumers to ingest the cooked instant foods and toapproximate a cooking completion time of the instant foods to preventthe consumers from wasting time while waiting for the instant foods tobe cooked.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a disposable vessel forcontaining instant noodles, to which an indicating unit of the presentinvention is applied;

FIGS. 2A to 2C schematically illustrates sectional views of disposablevessels for containing the instant noodles, to which the indicating unitof the present invention is applied;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate sectional views of indicating units accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the indicating unit of FIG. 1 or FIGS. 2A to 2C,which indicates a cooking state of instant foods progressing with time;and

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of a conventional indicator forindicating the completion of instant noodles being cooked applied to adisposable vessel for containing instant noodles, and a sectional viewof an indicating unit constituting the conventional indicator.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the samereference numerals are used throughout the different drawings todesignate the same or similar components.

As shown in the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of adisposable vessel for containing instant noodles, to which an indicatingunit of the present invention is applied, FIGS. 2A to 2C schematicallyillustrates sectional views of disposable vessels for containing theinstant noodles, to which the indicating unit of the present inventionis applied, FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate sectional views of indicatingunits according to the present invention, FIG. 4 illustrates theindicating unit of FIG. 1 or FIGS. 2A to 2C, which indicates a cookingstate of instant foods progressing with time, and FIG. 5 illustrates aperspective view of a conventional indicator for indicating thecompletion of instant noodles being cooked applied to a disposablevessel for containing instant noodles, and a sectional view of anindicating unit constituting the conventional indicator.

The cooking state and completion indicator includes an indicating unit21, 31 combined with a cover 20 or a sealing member 30 of a disposablevessel for containing the instant foods, and having therein a pluralityof pattern layers with various heights, a temperature-sensitive material22, 32 filling the pattern layers of the indicating unit, and a messagemember 40 positioned under the pattern layers. When the cover 20 of thedisposable vessel is closed after hot water is poured into thedisposable vessel, pattern layers become transparent in such a way thata pattern layer with a lowest height becomes firstly transparent and apattern layer with a highest height becomes transparent last of all,thereby letters or drawings marked on the message member 40 positionedunder the pattern layers are gradually revealed through the transparentpattern layers to allow the consumers to easily identify the cookingstate of the instant foods. When the letters or drawings on the messagemember 40 are completely revealed because the pattern.layers becomecompletely transparent, the consumers confirm that a cooking of theinstant foods is completed.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2A, the cooking state and completionindicator according to the present invention is provided with theindicating unit 21 installed in the cover of the disposable vessel toallow the consumers to identify the cooking state and the cookingcompletion of the instant foods.

Meanwhile, in case that the sealing member 30 made of a film materialsuch as polyethylene is melted and attached to a top part of a main body10 of the disposable vessel without the separate cover, the indicatingunit 31 may be installed on the sealing member 30 as shown in FIG. 2B.Additionally, in case that the sealing member 30 is attached to the toppart of the main body 10 of the disposable vessel and the cover 20having the indicating unit 21 is combined with the main body 10 of thedisposable vessel as shown in FIG. 2C, the consumers may completelyremove the sealing member 30 from the main body 10 of the disposablevessel, pour hot water into the disposable vessel, and close the cover20 on the main body 10 of the disposable vessel to cook the instantfoods.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the indicating unit 21, 31 is composed ofa transparent synthetic resin material, and an inner surface of theindicating unit 21, 31 is coated with a material well known in the artwhich is harmless to humans and prevents harmful substances from beingemitted from the synthetic resin material to the instant foods so as toshield the instant foods from being mixed with the harmful substancesemitted from the synthetic resin material by heat. Additionally, theindicating unit 21, 31 has two or more grooves, and the grooves havedifferent levels, thus temperature-sensitive material layers 22, 32 inthe grooves have different heights.

When the indicating unit 21 is installed on the cover 20, the grooves ofthe indicating unit 21 in which the temperature-sensitive material ispacked may be formed in an embossing manner or an intaglio manner. Inthis regard, when the grooves of the indicating unit 21 are formed inthe embossing manner, the message member 40 is layered on thetemperature-sensitive material layers after the temperature-sensitivematerial is packed in the overturned indicating unit 21, and a polyester(PE) film is covered on the temperature-sensitive material 22 or 32.Additionally, when the grooves of the cover 20 are formed in theintaglio manner, the temperature-sensitive material 22 may be packed inthe grooves of the indicating unit 21 before or after the message member40 is put in the grooves of the indicating unit 21, thereby the messagemember 40 is positioned on or under the temperature-sensitive materiallayers. The polyester film is then covered on the temperature-sensitivematerial.

Furthermore, when the indicating unit 31 is installed on the sealingmember 30, it is attached to the sealing member 30 after the indicatingunit 31 is formed through the same method as the case that theindicating unit 21 is installed on the cover 20.

The indicating unit 21, 31 must have two or more grooves, and thegrooves have different levels. At this time, shapes of the groovesdepend on a shape of the message member 40.

The temperature-sensitive material 32 useful in the present invention isplastic fats and oils not in an emulsion state but in a semi-solid stateused as a raw material to process foods such as confectionery andbreads. Additionally, the temperature-sensitive material 32 is opaque atroom temperature, but becomes a transparent liquid at about 40 to 45° C.Hence, the consumers may confirm the letters or drawings marked on themessage member 40 through the temperature-sensitive material layer whenthe temperature-sensitive material 32 is transparent.

A detailed description will be given of the operation of the cookingstate and completion indicator of the instant foods. The cover 20 or thesealing member 30 having the indicating unit 21, 31 is separated fromthe main body 10 of the disposable vessel to stuff powdered dressingmaterials and pour hot water into the disposable vessel. The cover 20 orsealing member 30 having the indicating unit 21, 31 is then covered onthe main body 10 of the disposable vessel.

When heat emitted from the hot water is transferred to the cover 20 orsealing member 30, the temperature-sensitive material layers 22 or 32packed in the indicating unit 21, 31 become the transparent liquid insuch a way that a temperature-sensitive material layer with a lowestheight becomes firstly transparent and a temperature-sensitive materiallayer with a highest height becomes transparent last of all.

In other words, because the temperature-sensitive material layers 22 or32 with different heights are formed in the indicating unit 21, 31, whenheat emitted from the hot water is transferred to thetemperature-sensitive material layers 22 or 32, a P1 layer, a P2 layer,and a P3 layer constituting the temperature-sensitive material layers 22or 32 become sequentially transparent, thus the consumers may confirmthe cooking state by looking the letters or drawings marked on themessage member 40 in the indicating unit 40 as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.At this time, the P1 layer has a lowest height among othertemperature-sensitive material layers.

Heights of the temperature-sensitive material layers 22 or 32 aredetermined in the consideration of a usual cooking time of the instantfoods and a time consumed until the temperature-sensitive material 22 or32 is transparent. At this time, the usual cooking time of the instantfoods must be the same as the time consumed until thetemperature-sensitive material 22 or 32 is transparent.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides acooking state and completion indicator of instant foods characterized inthat pattern layers with various heights are installed in a cover of adisposable vessel for containing the instant foods, atemperature-sensitive material is packed in the pattern layers, and amessage member is positioned under the pattern layers. When the cover ofthe disposable vessel is closed after hot water is poured into thedisposable vessel, the pattern layers become transparent in such a waythat a pattern layer with a lowest height becomes firstly transparentand a pattern layer with a highest height becomes transparent last ofall, thereby letters or drawings marked on the message member positionedunder the pattern layers are gradually revealed through the transparentpattern layers to allow the consumers to easily confirm the cookingstate of the instant foods. When the letters or drawings on the messagemember are completely revealed because the pattern layers becomecompletely transparent, the consumers confirm that a cooking of theinstant foods is completed. Accordingly, the cooking state andcompletion indicator of the present invention is advantageous in that itindicates a cooking state of the instant foods to allow consumers toeasily identify the cooking state quickly, thereby allowing theconsumers to ingest the cooked instant foods and to approximate acooking completion time of the instant foods to prevent the consumersfrom wasting time while waiting for the instant foods to be cooked.

1. A cooking state and completion indicator of instant foods, comprising: an indicating unit combined with a cover or a sealing member of a disposable vessel for containing the instant foods, and having therein a plurality of pattern layers with various heights; a temperature-sensitive material filling the pattern layers of the indicating unit; and a message member positioned under the pattern layers. 